Tribute to an Indian princess who died for
our freedom: Sculpture unveiled of spy tortured and executed by Nazis after
refusing to betray Britain
·
Noor Inayat Khan was one of Churchill's elite band of women
spies
·
Spy was the first radio operator to aid the French Resistence
·
Despite being tortured and interrogated by Gestapo she never gave
up her loyalty to Britain
·
Shot by firing squad in 1944, Noor's last word was 'Liberte'
A beautiful
Indian princess, she sacrificed her life for Britain as a wartime
secret agent.
With astonishing
courage, Noor Inayat Khan evaded the Gestapo before being betrayed, tortured
and,
after
refusing to reveal any information, executed at Dachau concentration camp.
Her last word as
the firing squad raised their weapons on September 13, 1944, was 'liberté'.
Noor Inayat Khan
wartime heroine who had a statue to her unveiled by the Princess Royal in
London today
Yesterday, seven
decades after her death aged 30, a statue to the forgotten heroine was
unveiled in
London by the Princess Royal.
The bronze bust
commemorating Britain’s only female Muslim war heroine is the first
stand-alone
memorial to an Asian woman in the UK.
It stands in
Gordon Square near the house where Noor lived and from where she left
on her last
mission, unable to tell her mother she might never return.
Princess Anne
said stories such as Noor’s are ‘remarkable in their own right’ but have
a
real connection
to make with the modern age through their ‘multi-cultural aspect’.
She hoped the
statue will 'remind people to ask: Who was she? Why is she here?
And what
can we achieve in her memory?'
Noor had a
degree in child psychology played the sitar, and wrote short stories for children
The statue of
Noor Inayat Khan was made by London artist Karen Newman
Noor was part of
an elite band of women in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the first
woman
radio operator
to be flown into occupied France to aid the Resistance.
Born in Moscow
to an Indian father and an American mother, Noor was a descendant of Tipu
Sultan,
the 18th century
ruler of Mysore. The family lived in London, moving to Paris when Noor was six.
She studied the
harp, gained a degree in child psychology and wrote children’s stories.
When Paris fell
to the Nazis in 1940, she returned to London and volunteered for the Women’s
Auxiliary Air Force.
Recruited by the
SOE in 1942, she was sent to Paris in June 1943 with the codename
Madeleine.
Many members of the network were soon arrested, but Noor chose to remain in France, trying to send messages back to London while avoiding capture
Many members of the network were soon arrested, but Noor chose to remain in France, trying to send messages back to London while avoiding capture
The Princess
Royal unveiled the statue today at Gordons Square in London
Princess Anne
said stories such as Noor's are 'remarkable in their own right' but have a
real
connection to
make with the modern age through their 'multi-cultural aspect'
Herione: Noor was executed in Dachau for refusing to give up state secrets
That October she
was betrayed by a Frenchwoman and arrested by the Gestapo. She was kept in
chains and in
solitary
confinement. Her captors kicked and interrogated her but she revealed nothing.
When posthumously
awarded the George Cross, Britain’s highest civilian decoration, for her
gallantry in 1949, the citation read:
'She
refused to abandon what had become the principal and most dangerous post in
France, although given the opportunity
to return
to England, because she did not wish to leave her French comrades without
communications.'
Noor was one of
only three women in the SOE to be awarded the medal. The other two – Violette
Szabo and Odette Hallowes –
have been more
widely known and celebrated until now.
Campaigners
spent years raising £60,000 for Noor’s statue, by London-based artist Karen
Newman, from public donations and
enlisted
the support of politicians including David Cameron, who said it was ‘impossible
not to be moved’ by her bravery.
Shrabani Basu
who wrote a biography of Noor in 2006 called 'Spy Princess' and spearheaded the
campaign to get her formally
recognised,
said: 'I realised how much Noor's story had touched ordinary people, especially
the young.
'I felt it was
all the more important to remember Noor's message, her ideals and her courage
in the troubled times we live in.'
Noor's brother
Hidayat Inayat Khan, 95, was unable to travel from his home in The Hague,
Netherlands, to attend the
ceremony
due to old age but said in a message read by his grandson Omar:
Nazi
concentration camp Dachau, where Noor was shot after being tortured and
imprisoned by the Gestapo
'May the inhuman
suffering of all those - who like my dear sister perished under the
brutal
cruelty of the oppressor - not be in vain.'
Her cousin
Mahmood Khan Youskine, 84, who spent holidays with her in France as a child,
did make it and said:
'I
remember her as a very refined girl who believed in freedom as a spiritual
condition.
'Later I think
she decided freedom had to be a political and social experience too.
'Sometimes it
can take time to gain clarity on the past, but I appreciate it enormously that
she is now being given recognition in the heart of London.'
Veterans of both
the SOE and WAAF including Irene Warner, 91, who trained with Noor, were among
the 300 throng.
She remembered
her as 'quiet and shy but very nice' and said she 'certainly deserves
recognition'.
General Sir
David Richards, the Chief of Defence Staff, said in a message in the
programme:
'We owe our
freedom to women like Noor Inayat Khan.'
After the
unveiling, a bugler played the Last Post before a minute's silence was
observed. Noor was also
posthumously
awarded France's Croix se Guerre after the war. A film of her life is planned
for release next year on the centenary of her birth.
A friend of mine sent the above. I do not know the author or the copyright holder. However, I hope they will accept my apology for we both share the same heroine in Inayat.
A friend of mine sent the above. I do not know the author or the copyright holder. However, I hope they will accept my apology for we both share the same heroine in Inayat.
